


Tea and snacks for insomniacs

by valy_urse



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Tony Stark, Blood and Injury, Bucky Barnes & Winter Soldier are Different Personalities, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, M/M, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Pining, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Protective Bucky Barnes, Tumblr Prompt, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 09:27:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17097998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valy_urse/pseuds/valy_urse
Summary: A late night (early morning?) encounter with the Winter Soldier with a bloody nose in his kitchen leaves Tony confused and slightly curious, but the notes and snacks that followed only managed to transform his curioasity in annoyance. He was a grown-ass man, he didn't need someone to look after him. He is Tony fucking Stark!





	Tea and snacks for insomniacs

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! this is both my first Marvel and Winteriron story so I'm a little nervous regarding its quality. It was inspired from a post on Tumblr with one sentence prompts: "That blood really brings out the murder in your eyes.". When I read it Tony's sarcastic voice came to my mind and from that came this story. Also, English isn't my first language. If there are mistakes, sorry..? I hope you enjoy it!

Despite Tony’s rare appearances in the common spaces from the Avengers tower he could see how Rogers’ enthusiasm at having his best friend back wasn’t entirely mirrored by his best friend, which in Tony’s opinion was both funny and sad as hell. Steve is usually seen practically vibrating with happiness like a hummingbird around Barnes, showing him a new book, a new movie, a new song, all in an effort to help his broody best friend. He would even bring Barnes to their team dinners at which he would squirm in his seat, watch everyone closely and answering only in grunts and nods, but he would stay put, for Steve.

Barnes spent a year and a half running from Steve after the events from DC, as he tried to bring him home and hitting Hydra bases that they didn’t even knew about. He gathered data from their experiments and deals and dumped it in Tony’s PO box in a flash drive along with all of his fanmail and fanart. He killed any Hydra agents he encountered and blew up most of the bases if they weren’t in populated areas. With what data he provided they managed to flush out what remained from the Hydra’s ranks and even managed to clear Barnes’ name. They had no illusions, they knew Hydra was just crippled since its claws were so deep embedded in the primal fear of disorder humanity has, might never be pulled out. But now they had an even more powerful enemy, Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier, their own weapon, no longer under their control but still just as capable of toppling a government, being it even a shadow one. After he put an end to his one man crusade against Hydra, Barnes simply strolled in the tower’s lobby and introduced himself as the Winter Soldier and asked to see the Avengres.

Now, four months later he made small steps towards recovery from Hydra’s programing, but what turned their world upside down was the fact that Hydra’s programing created a split personality, the Winter Soldier himself. Barnes ended up admitting to knowing about the assassin after he couldn’t remember throwing a knife at Clint when he dropped from a vent in the kitchen, he even “affectionately” called him Winter as a weird shorter nickname of himself. Tony still was confused about that, but they quickly realized that without a mission, the soldier was almost harmless. He just roamed the halls at night, eating everyone’s leftovers and annoying Bucky by drinking super sugary coffee and messing with his phone and Netflix settings. Apparently both of Barnes’ personalities are assholes.

Watching Barnes at the tem dinners and listening to JARVIS’ report on Winter’s whereabouts (yeah, he’s not as trusting as Steve), Tony could see that they were both struggling adapting to a normal life and being left out of the action when the Avengers Alert sounded, but they still tried. He could see it in the way Barnes was always tense in a group bigger than three of four people and tended to avoid bigger gatherings beside the quiet dinners. He could see it in how Winter still avoided them and preferred talking to JARVIS (mostly in ASL) and only to ask perimeter checks before going out on his nightly haunts. 

But both of them did make a great deal of progress in their months here. Barnes started reading in the common living room and sometimes watched movies with them. Winter started asking questions about normal things like movies and books and even started to just have normal conversations with the AI, like a tentative friendship. Barnes started sparring from time to time, first only with Steve but then accepted to do it with both Clint and Natasha. Winter sparred with Natasha sometimes. Silent almost deadly matches that Tony was fascinated by them, since it was the only time he could witness the Winter Soldier’s skills even if he did it from the safety of his workshop.

Tony rarely bumped into Barnes outside the team dinners. He spent most of his free time in his workshop and the rest was split between Avengers business and SI. After Pepper and him realized that their relationship cooled and their busy lives made planning a date or an outing almost impossible, and they decided to just remain friends, Tony didn’t have much motivation to spend time socializing. He went out just for coffee and when JARVIS pestered him enough to catch some sleep. So color him surprised when he walked in the kitchen and there stood Barnes in the dark before Tony turned on the light.

Barnes was up on a stool at the breakfast bar with his hands in front of him and his head hung so that his long hair covered his face. Tony rolled his eyes and made his way to the coffee maker. “I know that you super soldiers are prone to brooding in the dark, but why chose the kitchen when you could have gone up on the roof?” he asked before starting to brew a new pitcher. When Barnes didn’t answer him or got up to leave Tony turned with a raised eyebrow in question only to have his pulse pick up.  
There in front of him stood the Winter Soldier. After months of watching both Barnes and his alter ego he could tell them apart almost instantly. For one was the stony, almost empty look on his face and then the complete disregard of the blood that slowly dripped from his broken nose onto the table top.

Tony went into survival mode, and that meant dry humor. “Love the look. That blood really brings out the murder in your eyes. It rounds up the whole look in combination with the creepy stare and awesome but scary metal arm. 10/10 you are the winner of this challenge.” He tried to keep his voice as even as he could and then slowly turned to take his cup, being perfectly aware that he was exposing his back to a highly trained assassin. But maybe showing trust would get him some brownie points.

When he turned back to head back to his workshop he had to clutch his coffee so he wouldn’t drop it. The Winter Soldier had an eyebrow raised as if he challenged him and a predatory smirk on his face. As if he wasn’t scary enough. “Good talk then. I’ll leave you to your brooding. I’ll even turn the lights off for you.” He did just that before almost power walking away from the kitchen and its unsettling occupant. 

After he was inside his safe space and he put his coffee on his desk Tony could only glare at the closest camera. “JARVIS, why didn’t you warn me of the brooding creepy assassin in the kitchen?” he would have waited a little longer for his coffee or if he was desperate he could have had some more time to steel himself for the encounter.

“Mr. Winter made known his desire to start meeting the other residents of the tower since he warmed up to Ms. Romanov a bit and he chose Sir to be the next person he makes himself known to.. He asked me to announce him the next time Sir exits from his workshop. He was in the middle of a sparing session.” Tony was stuck somewhere between disbelief and outrage. His AI, his child, his baby practically arranged a play date for Winter and him.

“Leaving out the fact that you chose your friend’s request over my safety I’ll have to ask: Why me? Weren’t there others like Sam and Clint or hell, even Bruce?” he sat heavily in his chair, leaned back, grabbed his coffee and put his feet on the desk.

“Mr. Winter views Sir as harmless without your armor and with no proper training beside your occasional sparing sessions with Ms. Romanov he considered that Sir would be the best pick for his next person to meet.” JARVIS answered immediately. 

Tony frowned. “Okay, first of all, rude. I can fight without the armor and second of all, you agreed to that? Just like that? Weren’t you concerned for me at all?” he pouted and then took a sip out of his cup. The bitter taste of the coffee grounded him and he could practically feel his mind becoming clearer.

“I observed Mr. Winter’s behavior and my calculations stated that Sir was safe. The benefits the encounter would have had in Mr. Winter’s recovery far outweighed the possibility of a scare.” Tony snorted in his cup and rolled his eyes. His child really took a shine to the lonely man. “Besides, didn’t Sir just state that he can fight without his armor?” and that statement dripped with sarcasm. Damn him and his brilliant programing.

“Of course I can. I’m not just a genius, I’m a fit genius for that matter. Now, brig up the blueprints for Falcon’s wings. I want to see if we can make them more fuel efficient.” Tony decided to forget about what just happened and get back to work. He spent the rest of the night updating the wings and woke up with his cheek and back hurting from passing out on his desk.

Something was stuck to his forehead. What the hell? It was a pink post-it note. On it, in neat and big letter was written “You drink too much coffee, have some tea.” His confusion at the unfamiliar writing was amplified when he spotted in front of him on his desk a steaming cup of tea and a couple of chocolate chip cookies on a plate. He would ask JARVIS who brought them later, the smell of cookies was too tempting to resist. But before he could even finish his cookies and tea the Avengers Alert started blaring. He cursed and scrambled to get to his armor as he heard Steve’s bellowed “Avengers assemble!”  
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This had to be the most ridiculous/hilarious attack Tony has ever witnessed. It even went as far as to surpass the last Loki incident where he went around town turning people in Chihuahuas for his tiny and aggressive army. The Avengers were now trying to herd four easily spooked giant guinea pigs to the Shield HQ so they could be shrunk back to normal. How did that mad man even come across Pym particles? 

Tony could see that while Cap was slowly but surely losing his patience with their Shield backup the other Avengers were losing the battle with their laughter. Clint was openly cackling and shouting please for Natasha to let him ride on the back of one of the rodents. Tony could see the appeal. They looked really fluffy from where he was hovering in the air.

It took them almost three hours to lure the giant guinea pigs in the containment area with an equally giant piece of lettuce that he and Thor carried hovering in front of them. Who knew such adorable creatures could do so much damage? He would have to direct some funds from the Maria Stark charity to replanting the threes from the edges of Central Park. 

So with all the agitation during and post battle he forgot the mysterious note that came with tea and cookies. At least he would have forgotten if the same night/early morning when he went for coffee he wouldn’t have found his precious coffee maker meticulously taken apart and next to it another note with another steaming cup of tea and a sandwich. “You should sleep more.” The note read. Now this is personal. He ignored the tea and set on reassembling the coffee maker, but he ate the sandwich. No need to waste good sustenance. After he made himself a cup of that bitter life blood, he wrote on the note below the initial sentence: “I do what I want.” Added an anatomically correct drawn middle finger and went to his workshop. That should teach this new mother hen that he could be even more stubborn that he looked. He just got Rogers off his back now that Barnes was here, he didn’t want somebody else annoying him with proper meals and sleep program. 

He spent the next three days in a daze trying to fix the damage made by the giant rodents and improving the range of frequencies the coms could access in case another Shield backup interfering in their work before passing out somewhere around 6 am after he forgot to get some more coffee.

To his astonishment and annoyance he woke up in his bed, in a burrito of blankets and with another note stuck to his forehead. “JARVIS, how long was I out?” he asked as he struggled to get out of the too warm and fluffy trap. Since when did they have so many blankets? He recognized some of his simple red ones and iron man ones, but the ones with the rest of the Avengers and some with dogs or cats paw prints on them he had no idea whose this were. 

“You slept for nine hours and fifteen minutes, Sir.” JARVIS dutifully answered. He finally got his arms free and managed to wiggle his way out of the blankets. When he unstuck the note from his forehead and read it he couldn’t help but huff a laugh. “So do I.” read the note. So we have a smartass among us.

“And how did I get here almost wrapped to death in what looks like all the blankets from the tower?” Tony asked raising a sarcastic eyebrow at the closest camera. This was ridiculous, he was a grown ass man. Not even Steve would dare do something like this, he just pouts and gives him puppy dog eyes until Tony relents and with a sigh goes to sleep. 

“Mr. Winter came to the workshop and found Sir in an unnatural sleep position and decided to bring Sir to his bedroom so he could rest properly.” Tony just had to facepalm, there wasn’t any other valid reaction to that bit of information. The Winter Soldier was babying him. How is this his life?

“Again, why didn’t you stop him?”

“Sir was asleep in that position for far too long and it began to compromise Sir’s back and since I cannot alert any of the other Avengers and none of the bots are equipped with caretaking programs I came to the conclusion that this was the best option. Sir has already accepted Mr. Winter’s tea and food twice now.” Tony sighed and made a split second decision. He got up, changed in something that wasn’t stained by oil and made his way to the Rogers/Barnes floor to have a chat with the super soldier.

When he got out of the elevator he was struck by the domesticity of the scene before him. Steve was in the kitchen pealing an orange, his cheeks bulging with the slices of the one he has eaten before and Bucky was sprawled on the armchair reading with his legs over the arm, hair in a half bun and more important shirtless. Well that was new. But before he lost his courage he made his way across the room and stood before Barnes with his hands on his hips and cleared his throat. 

When Barnes looked up from his book with a raised eyebrow and wide innocent eyes, Tony almost gave up, but he had a mission and he would finish it goddammit. “Care to tell me why your murderous kitten alter-ego keeps invading my space and trying to baby me?” Tony raised an eyebrow of his own and opened his arms wide in indignation. 

Barnes’ eyes widened and he seemed to look for a way out of this conversation before his expression did a 180° turn and his eyes seemed to go from ocean blue to the icy color of a winter sky and his face split in a predatory smirk and Tony realized he was now looking at the Winter Soldier. Winter got up from the armchair and seemed to loom over him, but Tony refused to back down and planted his feet down, crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the assassin. Winter for his part only kept smirking as he too crossed his arms, and damn, weren’t those some arms. Tony lost himself there for a moment as the biceps bulged. Why did Barnes have to be shirtless and expose that marvel of a metal arm? “You are not afraid of me.” And that slightly Russian accented English shouldn’t be that damn sexy with the rumble of his voice.

Tony scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Of course I’m not afraid of you. I’ve seen you watch Steven Universe late at night. Don’t forget you’re using my account when you ask JARVIS to bring something up.” And it was true, Tony spent almost an entire minute in shock when JARVIS told him why Steven Universe was in his watch again list on Netflix. He ignored Steve chocking on his orange in the background and stared down (as much as a shorter person could stare down a mountain of a man) the soldier. 

To his surprise Winter laughed quietly and the way his eyes crinkled at the corners made him look so much care free than the smirk he had on a few moments ago. “He reminds me of Barnes’ Steve.” And Steve made and indignant noise from de kitchen and decided that now he should get over there to see what’s going on between them. He took place behind Tony like he was ready to drag him out if things took a wrong turn.

“I’m not here to discuss where that show took inspiration from. Could you please tell me why you chose me as your next project?” Tony tried to be intimidating while looking up at him. “We all know I’m more than capable of taking care of myself, even Captain Motherhen here backed down from trying to baby me.” Steve shuffled behind him and Tony could practically feel his embarrassment.

Winter smiled softly at him, shook his head fondly before winking at him his expression changed to a wide-eyed and confused Bucky. When he realized where he was and saw how both him and Steve had defensive stances he looked concerned and grabbed Tony by his arms and started looking him over. “Jesus, Tony are you alright? He never takes over like that without asking. What happened? Did he say what he wanted with you?” and then he caught himself and looked slightly startled by his behavior and took a step back and looked away blushing. “Sorry. I promise I’ll talk to him about personal space.”

Tony was so shocked both by Winter’s (possible) flirting and Barnes’ genuine concern that he could only nod and give a short “You do that” before hightailing out of there and to his safe space, his workshop. What the hell just happened?

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The notes didn’t stop. Almost every day now he gets a cup of tea and sometimes a snack with a passive aggressive note on it, some were kind of terrifyingly attempts at flirting..? “You have strong hands but very delicate. I want to take care of them.” Tony was flattered and confused by that one. He decided to ignore them and just accept the tea and food from time to time, but the notes he gathered so no one else had to see them.

One day he found a cup of coffee and that was the first clue that this was from someone else since Winter seemed to have an aversion to the beverage. On its side was stuck another note but this one was written in a beautiful cursive, old fashioned. “I tried to make him stop. He just says he likes you and you need more tea. I made you a cup of coffee. I’m sorry. –B.” okay. So now he has two people (does it count as two it they share the same body?) leaving him notes and snacks. Awesome. He rolled his eyes, but took the cup with him since it was just like he liked it, black and so hot he might have burned his hands if he wasn’t so used to the heat.

While Winter liked to sneakily leave him his little attentions, Bucky with the exception of that first note started bringing him coffee and whatever he found in the kitchen down in the workshop. At first he was blushing furiously and couldn’t speak, just said “Here.” And left whatever he brought on the desk before quickly leaving. Then he would stop to greet the bots as they started recognizing him and even play fetch with them. DUMM-E took a shine to his arm the first time he came in a t-shirt instead of his usual hoodies and now he would make sad beeps when Bucky came in long sleeves. Then he started asking Tony about his work and listened attentively as he explained about alloys and how he was trying to incorporate them in their uniforms so they would be more efficient and lighter than Kevlar. Then he started hanging out on the old couch in the workshop’s corner when Steve started annoying him with his shouting at the baseball games.

Slowly Tony got used to both of Barnes’ alter-egos and when one night no tea was waiting for him on the kitchen table when he went for coffee refills he found himself stopping I his tracks and staring at the spot where it usually was. Was Winter ok? Was it a bad night? Should he even ask about it. Those thoughts haunted him back to his workshop and into the next morning when Bucky showed up with a bowl of granola and yogurt for him and a fresh cup of coffee. He smiled up at him from his desk and pulled the bowl closer to him from where Bucky put it. He appreciated that he knew not to hand him things.

When Bucky finished greeting the bots and accepting pets from DUMM-E he started heading for the couch. “Is Steve too enthusiastic about a game again?” Tony asked between a bite of granola and a sip of coffee.

“Nah. Thor and him decided to try out that game Mario Kart you recommended and since I knew where it would lead I decided to crash here for a while.” He had a smug smirk so much like Winter’s that Tony was reminded again that he had no note or tea waiting for him last night, but before he could ask Bucky about it something caught his eye.

On the back of Bucky’s metal shoulder was stuck a note. When Bucky sat down on the couch and didn’t notice it Tony’s curiosity was peaked so he got up from his seat and made his way towards him. Bucky was watching him with wide eyes a little confused. Tony rarely left his place on his chair when Bucky was in the workshop. When Tony grabbed his arm and gently turned him so he could reach behind him his confusion was tinged with concern. Tony knew he was silent and that unnerved hi, but his disbelief made him speechless. There, on Bucky’s arm was a note from Winter. He would recognize that writing anywhere. “Want to go out with us? I promise I’ll get you coffee.” And he even drew a winky face.

“Uh..Stark?..” Oh yeah, the note was attached to Bucky. He could feel himself blush furiously and he backed away before putting his face in his hands. He has to tell Bucky. This puts him in such a weird spot.

“Your murderous alter-ego just asked me on a date via your arm.” Tony said and showed the note to Bucky. Bucky started cursing in several languages and he got really red. Why would Winter do this. Now he had to face rejection from his other personality, this seemed especially cruel. “Look, I’ll let him down gently if the thought of him asking me on a date offends you this much. I’ll just write him an answer on one of his notes so you could give it to him.” 

“No!” Tony flinched when Barnes shouted. Bucky looked panicked and then he stood up but stopped with his hands in the air like he stopped himself from touching Tony. “Shit. No, doll. I’m just angry that the prick got to ask you first. He promised he would let me woo you, but he has a more aggressive approach than I do and it seems he lost his patience waiting for me to gather the courage to ask you.” He said all of those looking away from him and when he finished he glanced shyly at Tony from his eyelashes before looking down.

Tony was baffled, before he could stop himself he burst into laughter. This was ridiculous. He was courted by a highly trained assassin and his sniper alter-ego and he only taught they were spending time with him because he was harmless in their view. What a clusterfuck. When he stopped laughing and was wiping the corner of his eye he looked up to see Bucky with a hurt look on his face. Shit.

“Stop it with the kicked puppy look, Barnes. I’m not laughing at you. Just at the entire situation. I was under the impression that both of you imprinted on me like lost ducklings because I was the one least likely to kill you in your sleep with my skills as a spy. And here you are confessing your crush on me.” He chuckled again before grabbing Bucky’s metal hand and pulling him a little closer. “Yes, I would like to go on a date with you, both of you, since Winter promised me coffee.” 

The smile that split Bucky’s face was blinding and so beautiful that Tony went willing in his arms when he dragged him in a bear hug. He could feel and hear Bucky’s happy laughter as he was hugged. And they suddenly stopped and just as suddenly he was picked up with strong arms under his upper thighs and found himself straddling Winter’s chest as the mad man held him up. He had a knowing smile on his face and the asshole even waggled his eyebrows at him. Tony rolled his eyes and pulled Winter’s hair a little before leaning down and planting a kiss on his lips. He could still feel his smile as they kissed. And he could tell that this was a different smile from the one that graced his face all those nights ago, instead of predatory, this one was happy.

**Author's Note:**

> So that was it. I hope you like it. If you did, please comment and leave kudos so I might know if I should write more. Criticism is always welcome. And if you want to chat me up, you find me at valyurse on Tumblr. Cheers!


End file.
